Sanford-Burnham chief wants discoveries to pay off

Reed sees challenges in turning lab work into commercial successes

Dr. John Reed, chief executive of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics where a robot is used to conduct experiments to help discover new drugs.
— Earnie Grafton

Dr. John Reed, chief executive of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics where a robot is used to conduct experiments to help discover new drugs.
— Earnie Grafton

Aside from searching for new ways to treat and cure diseases, one of the biggest challenges facing medical researchers is moving their discoveries from their laboratories to the biotechnology companies that can turn them into commercial products.

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute Chief Executive John Reed deals with that challenge nearly every day.

The recession has only made the task more difficult for scientists working on new drug development, genetics and stem cells at the La Jolla biomedical research center.

Q: What challenges stand in the way of moving scientific discoveries from the laboratory to private sector biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies that can advance them through clinical trials and regulatory approval?

A: Funding is the biggest challenge. In the past, venture capitalists would license discoveries that showed promise as medical treatments at an early stage of development. But that source of funding has diminished, first due to a lower appetite for risk, and more recently due to the economic downturn.

So it is up to us to lower the risk by advancing our discoveries closer to clinical application and to find creative ways of funding the translation of basic discovery research into practical applications.

Q: What has the institute done to move potential drug candidates forward?

A: With a combination of philanthropic support and competitive grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health, we have established perhaps the most advanced infrastructure for drug discovery in the nonprofit world, staffed by a team of pharma company-experienced professionals. This allows us to translate discoveries about disease targets we identify into prototype new medicines.

In addition, with philanthropic support, we have initiated internal funds that provide seed capital either for beginning the process of translating lab discoveries into clinical applications (Starting Line Fund) or for nurturing promising therapeutics toward clinical testing (Finish Line Fund).

We are undertaking several other strategies, including earlier partnering with biopharmaceutical companies and more efficient ways of creating new biotechnology companies based on our inventions.

Q: Why do institutes such as yours need partnerships with biopharmaceutical companies?

A: Our scientists are world class at identifying targets for drug discovery, devising creative strategies for tackling diseases, and beginning the process of translating our findings toward clinical applications. But we look to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to finish the job.

They have the expertise to optimize our prototype medicines, design drug trials, handle complex interactions with the Food and Drug Administration and other global regulatory agencies, and to manufacturer and commercialize products that improve health.

Companies can also tap the public markets for the capital required to get a drug to the finish line, a process that costs close to a billion dollars typically.

Q: Has the partnership model changed over the years? What does it look like today?

A: It used to be that pharmaceutical companies and biotechs would license technologies from nonprofits, for example drug targets or compounds, outright. Then the company would complete development and if successful, take the technology to market.

The landscape has changed drastically in the past decade and pharma is less willing to invest in scientists and capital resources to complete the higher risk, early stage research.

At the same time, our researchers have become more entrepreneurial. They want their discoveries to benefit patients, so they continue to advance their research to the point of drawing pharma’s interest. We’re seeing an increase in industry-sponsored research and true collaborations, with companies and the Institute combining their talents to push their discoveries to the clinic.

Q: What has Sanford-Burnham done in recent years to improve the partnering process?

A: We have greatly improved our business development expertise. In particular, we have recruited from within industry talented professionals such as Michael Jackson, our vice president for drug discovery and development, who ran drug discovery research for the world’s largest health-care company (Johnson & Johnson), and Paul Laikind, our chief business officer, a seasoned entrepreneur and biotechnology executive.

These and other professionals on our team not only have enormous experience running drug discovery and development programs in biopharmaceutical companies, but they bring a level of sophistication to our business deal-making capabilities that resonates with pharma partners.

Q: Have those changes paid off yet in the form of new partnership deals?

A: We now have several new deals on the horizon covering some of the most challenging diseases of our time.